[Coral-List] More on open access

[Paul Muir]

It's always been one of the great mysteries to me -  researchers spend
their lives and often a small fortune to produce articles which they
then give to commercial operators (ie journals) for free. The journals
then get these articles reviewed and edited by other researchers for
free, add some advertising and print the stuff, charging other
researchers the earth to read it!  
I guess it costs to print and distribute hard copy journals but when you
see the prices journals charge for subscriptions, even e-subscriptions,
it seems that publishing must be a great business?!  You do wonder why
researchers don't cut the commercial operators out of the loop,
particularly when the web is such a great way of reaching a huge
audience for free without the limitations of a printed page. 
 
Dr. Paul Muir
Museum of Tropical Queensland,
78-104 Flinders St,
Townsville QLD 4810 Australia.
ph 07 47 260 642 fax 07 47 212 093 
 
* if no reply or problems sending try paularwen at gmail.com